Mohammad Kaif faces Congress supporters' ire

Cricketer and Congress' Lok Sabha nominee Mohammad Kaif faced ire of his own party workers on Thursday during a visit to his constituency, Phulpur

Allahabad: Former Test cricketer and Congress' Lok Sabha candidate from Phulpur Mohammad Kaif was shown black flags on Thursday by a group of youth while he was returning from an airport.

They were shouting slogans and accusing Congress national leadership of "super-imposing" Kaif while ignoring local talent for Lok Sabha elections 2014.

Mohammad Kaif

The protesters, who claimed they were supporters of the Congress, stood at Chaupatka crossing in the city's western part, through which Kaif was supposed to pass on his way to his residence from the Bamrauli airport on the outskirts.

Although the protesters waved black flags and raised slogans as the cricketer's vehicle sped through, there was no disruption of traffic or law and order, police sources said.

Kaif, who had a short-lived international cricket career but continues to play for the Kings XI Punjab team in the IPL, is likely to stay here for a few days for electioneering.

The Phulpur Lok Sabha constituency would go to polls on May 7.

Local Congress leaders said on condition of anonymity, "no prominent party worker was there among the protesters and the youths appear to have been propped up by disgruntled elements in the city and the district units who might have hoped for a party ticket for themselves".

Famous in history as the seat from where Jawaharlal Nehru got elected to the Lok Sabha, Phulpur has been sending non-Congress candidates to the Parliament since 1989.

The constituency, which earlier comprised predominantly rural trans-Ganga region of Allahabad district, now has more than half of the city's population following the latest delimitation.

It is widely believed that the Congress may have chosen Kaif with an eye on the sizeable Muslim population in the city as well as in the adjoining rural areas, besides young, urban and aspirational voters who may easily identify with the right-hand batsman, who belonged to a lower middle class family and went on to become the tallest cricketer produced by the city.